


Fondly

by kryptidkat



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys - My Chemical Romance (Album)
Genre: Explicit Language, Extremely Gay Pining, Fluff, Kobra and Cherri are about the same age, KobraCola - Freeform, M/M, Romance, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wholesome, ace Kobra (romance favorable), alcohol ment, demisexual Cherri, drug ment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:53:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26352208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kryptidkat/pseuds/kryptidkat
Summary: They had been on the roof when it happened, weightless together in a sea of stars, the ink black sky streaked silver with meteors. The others were enjoying the view from the sand below, but they might as well have been miles away, because they were the last thing on Cherri’s mind...
Relationships: Agent Cherri Cola/Kobra Kid (Danger Days)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 44





	Fondly

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [I Have Loved The Stars Too Fondly](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20361715) by [kryptidkat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/kryptidkat/pseuds/kryptidkat). 



> IMPORTANT CONTEXT! This drabble branches off into a sideverse from my mainverse fic, I Have Loved The Stars Too Fondly, which isn’t required reading for this but it may make more sense if you’re familiar with it. The two fics do share a few phrases here and there to bridge the gap, but this is mostly brand new! The only thing that is changed is that Kobra’s not aro in this ‘verse, and how things might have gone differently that night if he wasn’t. 
> 
> Kobra is still ace (romance favorable tho), and Cherri’s demisexual because I need some fricking rep gosh darn it — and oh yeah, just to clarify, I know a lot of people write older!Cherri (which is awesome!!!), but my Cherri is within a year or two of Kobra’s age, so there’s no age gap grossness going on, either. 
> 
> Let me be clear, I still HIGHKEY vibe with QPR KobraCola and will die on that hill, but also, well, two roads diverged in a yellow desert and I took the smoochier one today; that’s all I have to say for myself. (insert bothbothisgood.gif here)
> 
> ALSO VERY IMPORTANT: Big thank you to my amazing betareader mothmanguy! You rock, tysm!!
> 
> CW: Little bit of language and a heckton of PG smooching. Brief hypothetical alcohol/drug mention, but no usage.
> 
> P.S. Don’t @ me about computer code lmao, all I know about it is that don’t know anything about it and that it’s probably wrong aaaaaa

They had been on the roof when it happened, weightless together in a sea of stars, the ink black sky streaked silver with meteors. The others were enjoying the view from the sand below, but they might as well have been miles away, because they were the last thing on Cherri’s mind.

He and Kobra were often on the roof like this — more often than not, probably — just talking quietly and enjoying being near each other. Nothing was different about that night until Kobra had propped his head up on his hand to watch Cherri. His expression changed ever so subtly, the same curiosity that crossed his face whenever he was examining the cover of a record he hadn't heard before. 

And Cherri had a feeling Kobra was going to ask even before he did, so when Kobra inhaled softly and started, "Can I—" Cherri was already nodding, and met him halfway.

It was chaste and warm — unsure and familiar all at once — and it sent a quiet thrill through Cherri. Kobra’s lips were slightly chapped and for a long moment he lingered there against Cherri’s mouth, then faltering a little before pressing in closer for something, something he wasn’t finding. 

And because he knew Kobra as well as anyone, except maybe Poison, and had never seen any sign of it, Cherri already knew Kobra wasn’t going to find it. This was the first time, and it was going to be the last. 

And yet, young as he was, Cherri was already far too well-practiced in the art of savoring things without clinging to them. 

So he pulled away so Kobra wouldn't have to. 

They hadn’t said much else, after that. They’d both already had a pretty good idea of the way things were. Kobra just had to be sure for himself, Cherri supposed. And, hey, what were friends for.

It actually wasn’t all that different for Cherri himself, anyway. Such things had never been a big concern for him. With Kobra, though, it was different. _Could_ have been different. But it didn’t have to be.

Either way, it was good to be certain. Things had been settled; everything was the way it was going to be, and Cherri was content. He honestly didn’t give it a second thought.

Not, at least, until a few weeks later when he found himself sandwiched under Kobra on the old blue diner couch, the two of them sprawled lengthwise on it. Cherri was starting to deeply regret declaring couch time earlier, even though it had been starting to get really fucking chilly outside and they were very much appreciating each other’s body heat. It was late, _late_ late, and the two of them had been talking about nothing for hours and were now both in the stage of tired that made you go all relaxed and giddy and stupid and affectionate.

“Fuck you, C is infinitely better than C++,” Kobra was saying in mock earnest, propping himself up with his elbows on either side of Cherri so he could stare him down properly. “If that’s what you write your library with, it’s more compatible with other languages.”

“It’s harder to use!” Cherri insisted in between his laughter. He didn’t know much about coding, but he’d been able to hold his own up to this point. 

Kobra was trying not to laugh so he could keep arguing, and only sort of succeeding. “No, listen, you can’t do the same thing with C++, you have to add a wrapper layer, and trust me, that sucks ass.”

“But it doesn’t even support classes and objects!”

“That makes it cleaner and quicker to run!”

Cherri conceded with a huff. “Techie.”

“Nerd.”

“Geek.”

“Dork.” Kobra nosed into Cherri’s hair affectionately.

Phoenix Witch, he was so close to Cherri and it was almost too much. Cherri wasn’t going to say anything, determined to distract himself and bear it because he didn’t want to make things awkward between them.

They had done this for years, tangling up in the couch like this for hours at a time; they hadn’t done it since the night on the roof, that was all, and Cherri was just going to have to get the fuck used to it because he had vowed to himself that night to not think of Kobra as anything besides a friend. But Kobra was so, so close it was all Cherri could do to not shove Kobra away so he wouldn’t do anything he would regret.

Oblivious to Cherri’s inner turmoil, Kobra lowered his head to rub catlike against his cheek. 

“Kobra,” Cherri said, voice tight. Kobra wasn’t trying to be a tease; he would have no concept of how torturous this was. 

“Mm?” Kobra raised his head, brushing noses with him carelessly. 

“You’re—” Destroya, there was no way to say this without making it at least a little awkward, was there. “You’re not making this easy for me.” 

And there was no bitterness in Cherri’s voice; a trace of ruefulness, maybe, but not bitterness, because this wasn’t Kobra’s fault and Cherri was doing his best here to make light of the situation.

Kobra drew back enough to look at him properly, brows coming together slightly. Cherri watched several microexpressions cross his face — little tells that Cherri had picked up on over years of long rambling nose-to-nose conversations like this one, tells that most people wouldn’t catch. From puzzlement to realization, to sympathy, to gentle amusement.

And from amusement, bafflingly, into fondness. Not hurt or betrayal or disgust. Just fondness.

“Cherriiiiii,” Kobra drew out the word softly, almost chiding, with just a trace of a serene smile. And dammit, Cherri had somehow made things _worse_ by saying something _,_ because Kobra was dipping his head to Cherri’s, lips grazing his temple, barely touching sun-scarred skin. “Cherri,” he repeated, the word little more than a low hum. Skimming down his face, placing another casual kiss to his cheek like it was the most natural thing in the world. “Cherri.” Pressing one to the very corner of Cherri’s mouth. 

Cherri was pretty sure his heart stopped beating altogether.

Kobra was hovering directly over his mouth now. So near that Cherri could feel his warm breath as Kobra let out a happy little sigh, so near his lips ghosted ever so slightly over Cherri’s when he spoke.

“Cherri,” he murmured again, and kissed him there.

For a moment Cherri couldn’t move, couldn’t think. 

Then his brain kicked into overdrive. What the _hell?_ Was Kobra drunk? High on something? They’d spent all evening together and he hadn’t seen Kobra take anything. Had Cherri mentioned anything to him, ever, that he could have even remotely interpreted to mean that Cherri expected this from him?

Kobra’s mouth was still on his, easy, unhurried; but shit _,_ if he was only doing this for Cherri’s sake—

Cherri tipped his face down just enough to break it off, with a quiet gasp to get some air back into his lungs. 

“Not for me, K,” he said hoarsely. He raised a hand to Kobra’s cheek, stroking the side of his face, an apology for whatever he’d done to warrant Kobra deeming the action necessary at all. “Not just for me.”

Kobra’s dark eyes met Cherri’s and he frowned in confusion. “No?”

Cherri tried to steady his breathing to slow his heartrate. What was so confusing, wasn’t Kobra sickened by all this? Had Cherri somehow gotten everything that had been left unspoken wrong?

“K, what are you doing,” Cherri whispered helplessly. He never expected this, never asked for it.

“Want to,” Kobra said.

“But we – you –” Cherri floundered. “I _told_ you we were okay, I meant it, you don’t have to—"

“Talk later,” Kobra suggested, bending down over him again.

“Right. Later,” said Cherri, mind blanking. “Later is fine, later’s grea—” And Kobra cut him off gently with another kiss. 

This time Cherri let himself melt into it. This presumably being as new an experience for Kobra as it was for Cherri, it was cautiously exploratory at first, and a bit uncoordinated, but wonderful all the same. Cherri breathed in the smell of cigarettes and hair bleach and leather and gasoline, and once the initial shock and adrenaline rush had subsided, he found himself again just as sleep-drunk as Kobra. It was all lazy movements between them, half-lidded eyes and warm hands and slow breathing and clumsy mouths and smiles so close you could feel them against your own. They already knew each other so well that this could be wordless, the slightest nudge or sound prompting the other to adjust.

Cherri cupped Kobra’s face and ran his fingers lightly over Kobra’s sharp jaw, tilting his own face to his and pulling him in. Kobra shifted, scooting a few inches up for better access. Cherri leaned up to him, and Kobra’s mouth fell open trustingly, sinking deeper into the kiss with a small, satisfied sound low in his throat.

And there was no heat in it, in any of it. Just warmth; a warmth that felt like home, and Cherri was more than content.

When their tiny stretch of infinity was over and Kobra finally parted from him with another sigh and nuzzled into Cherri’s neck, Cherri couldn’t find any words for a long time. It was enough to lie there and toy idly with Kobra’s hair, still sandy from taking a tumble from his bike earlier that day.

Kobra was actually the one who broke the comfortable silence.

“I liked it. The first time, I mean,” he confessed quietly. “I was...I was just looking so hard for something that wasn’t there...”

“Mm. Fireworks,” Cherri said.

“Yeah. That I missed what _was,”_ said Kobra. “I wanted...I just didn’t know if you would want anything...” he bit his lip. “In between. Cuz I don’t — I can’t — I know it’s not the same as —”

“Doesn’t have to be,” Cherri said quickly.

Kobra shifted to face him again.

“I get it,” Cherri said. “For a long time, I thought I was, too. I remember what it feels like. _Doesn’t_ feel like,” he corrected himself. He huffed a laugh. “In my case, turns out I apparently had just never got to know anyone else as well as you, before.”

Kobra reached for the dog tags around Cherri’s neck between them, fingering them idly. “Don’t...don’t you w—"

“Kobrakid, the fact I get to know you at all is more than I deserve,” Cherri said. “I don’t want anything you don’t want to give me.”

Kobra tucked Cherri’s blue streak out of his face. “It’s weird,” he said. “But nice. Real nice. Like a secret code, kinda. Talking without talking.” He smiled a little, acknowledging that probably sounded ridiculous out loud.

But Cherri knew what he meant. “Yeah.”

"We okay?"

 _"Yes."_ Cherri said. "Very okay. Extremely okay." 

Kobra looped his arm around Cherri’s side and snuggled in, burying his face in Cherri’s shirt. 

Heart full, Cherri settled back and got comfortable. They’d probably be here a while. He might even be able to convince Kobra to try sleeping a little, if Cherri was going to be right there with him all night.

Kobra giggled into Cherri’s jacket. 

“What?” demanded Cherri. 

“Your fucking face,” Kobra said happily. “Destroya, I thought you were going to start making dial-up noises or something.” 

“Shut up! How the hell was I supposed to react to that bombshell?” Cherri struggled to sit upright, so Kobra shoved him all the way off the couch, but Cherri managed to grab him and pull him down with him. 

"I'll give you a bombshell!"

They toppled to the tile floor, Kobra snatching up a throw pillow as they went and getting a good hit in on the side of Cherri’s head. 

“Ow, motherfucker! Fighting dirty, I see. Two can play that game.” Cherri scrambled for the other pillow and socked Kobra off balance. Kobra fell back, snickering, and Cherri clambered on top of him to seal his victory.

Experimentally — hardly daring to, but emboldened by how Kobra stayed relaxed and unguarded — he ducked down to snatch another kiss. When Kobra welcomed it, the pillowfight came to an abrupt and inglorious end, weapons abandoned in favor of losing themselves in each other again.

“I love you,” Cherri parted from him just enough to say at last, though it was something he’d said more than once, long before today. 

“I know,” Kobra replied promptly. Because as sincere a moment as this was, neither of them would have passed up a perfectly good opening for a Star Wars reference like that. But his voice was soft and his eyes crinkled up at the corners. “Love you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Whatcha think? 👀👀👀 Please leave a comment or come [yell at me on tumblr](https://kryptidkat.tumblr.com/ask), on anon or off — my inbox is always open! <3


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